Just A Phase
by secretscarlettruth
Summary: Okay, my first fan fiction, (hope it's not too bad). I really enjoyed reading the Gone series, this is actually set in Hunger. This is the first of a series of short stories I hope to do which are based in the FAYZ, so it's a working progress. Anyway, enjoy! ;) P.s: Soz, spelling mistake with Edilio's name!


"Elliot… ELLIOT, ELLIOT!" The screaming from next door was shrill and hysteric. I squeezed my eyes shut and massaged my temples.

"ELLIOT!" he shrieked, then, in a softer voice, "Mommy." I sighed, stood up and made my way out of the bedroom that was not mine and into the room next door.

Ben, my younger brother, lay on the small bed there, tangled up in the sheets. He was sniffling quietly, and the bedding looked suspiciously damp. I approached him, bent down and pulled him to me. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tight.

"Daniel, I dreamt about him again. He was there, but when I went to him, he walked away, and the closer I got the farther he went and then, and then-" he burst into tears again, gasping and sobbing, his small body shaking.

We stayed like that for a few minutes, I held him till the shaking stopped and then pulled away. Ben's face was streaked with tears, and his nose was running.

"I was scared Dan."

"We all are, Ben," I said softly to him. My eyes found his, and I held his gaze. I took a deep breath. "I miss Elliot too, but we have to be brave. We need to stay strong." My voice trembled slightly on this, but I held it together. Because that's what I have to do now, for Daniel. I have to hold it together.

Elliot Zak, E.Z to his friends. Our big brother. As if losing our parents wasn't enough, the FAYZ took Elliot too.

"Come on Ben. Let's get you cleaned up. You've had an accident again."

He stayed silent, and his eyes had glazed over. He gazed right through me, and didn't move. A small smile came over his face.

"Ben," I said sharply.

"He was confused," said Ben dreamily. He looked calm and serene, so different from the sobbing wreck of a six year old I was trying to console five seconds ago.

"He was confused," he repeated, "He didn't know what was happening. He thought it wasn't real, but it was. Then it went RED." Ben's face clouded over.

"Ben, BEN! Snap out of it," I said, shaking him roughly.

"He thought about us, Dan. His last thought was us. He tried to say our names, but he couldn't." A single tear rolled down his cheek. "He thought goodbye."

I slapped him then, just lightly, but it was enough to jolt him out of his trance. He shook his head, as if trying to clear it, and then squinted at me. The early morning light was drifting through the curtains; it was going to be another hot day.

"Did I do it again, Dan?" His voice was back to normal, to my relief. He didn't sound vague any more. Now he just sounded scared.

It took me a moment to find my voice. "No," I lied. No need to frighten him even more. "You just didn't move for a couple of seconds." I said. "Come on, it's morning now, no point going back to sleep."

I led him out of the room and got him changed. I tried to conceal my inner turmoil for his benefit.

It had been happening more and more frequently now. The trances, the nightmares, his weird reveries.

His first one had freaked us all out. Mom and Dad were worried sick, and they argued about taking him to a doctor, a physiatrist, hospital or wherever you're meant to take your physic six year old. And it didn't stop, as Mom and Dad had hoped. A week after his first 'episode', he had another, during the daytime. They kept happening, becoming slightly longer and more clear every time, sort of like a radio channel. And he would never remember anything from it.

Dan's latest visions, (or whatever you want to call them) had been about E.Z. That much was obvious. It was a normal day in the FAYZ, they went going to pick cabbages. E.Z left, and he never came back. I sometimes wonder if I blame Sam and the others for my big brother's death. He was mine and Dan's guardian when the wall came up. He was like a father. But he was killed, and in the most gruesome way possible. I couldn't hold Sam and Edillio responsible for that. They were just doing their jobs.

I shut my eyes tight. When I opened them again I was standing on the landing, clutching a pile of damp bedsheets. Dan had wandered downstairs, and the sound of the T.V could be heard.

I couldn't be bothered to wash the sheets, so I shoved them in the bin. Ben wet the bed routinely, and I knew that we would soon run out of clean bedding, but I could not find myself caring. If it came to it, we could always move to the abandoned house next door, or the one next door to that. One thing that came out of the FAYZ, there was no shortage of houses.

There was, however, a shortage of breakfast. And lunch, and dinner. Just like every at Perdido Beach, I was hungry.

The big one five. When kids reach the age of fifteen, they get a choice. Continue the suffering in the FAYZ, or leave. In five years, I could be out of here. If I wasn't dead already. And there was Ben. If I stepped out, then who would look after him? I could never deal with the guilt of leaving him. He's lost too much already. _We all have._

And on top of that, he was a mutant. Lots of people in the FAYZ were developing crazy powers. Some dangerous, like Sam's, some useless, like that kid Duck Zhang. There are some pretty crazy things happening around here, but I'd hate having to deal with sinking through the floor every time I got mad.

"I'm hungry, Dan," came Ben's voice. I went to the kitchen and pulled out two cans of green beans. The days of feasting on candy and cookies were over. I was kicking myself for wasting all that stuff. I would sell my soul for some Junior Mints right now.

I poured the beens into bowls, and they slopped around unattractively. It was a pretty similar type of 'meal' every time. Canned green beans, canned lima beans, canned chickpeas. That was the kind of thing Edillio's team was handing out to us Perdido Beach kids. I had no idea what Caine's lot were eating, up at Coates. All I know is that Drake's raid on Ralph's turned our food shortage into a crisis. Desperate. That is the word Sam used at the meeting in the church. The meeting after E.Z's death.

I walked to the dining room table and slammed the bowls of beans down with more force than I'd intended.

"Breakfast, Ben."

Ben scrambled up eagerly, his face bright with anticipation. He didn't bother to use a spoon, he just grabbed the bowl and chugged it straight into his mouth. It made me sad to see him like that. This was the boy who would throw tantrums whenever Mom would make him eat his carrots. And now he's downing a bowl of lousy beans like it's the best thing he's ever tasted. I started shovelling beans into my mouth. They were pretty much tasteless, which was not an entirely bad thing.


End file.
